Cory Booker breaks record for longest known Senate speech, beating Strom Thurmond

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: USA Today

Published 7:18 p.m. ET April 1, 2025


WASHINGTON – Sen. Cory Booker on Tuesday delivered the longest recorded floor speech in Senate history, breaking the record set by segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond in 1957.

Booker began speaking on the Senate floor at 7 p.m. Monday evening to protest President Donald Trump's policies.

At 7:19 p.m. on Tuesday, Booker broke Thurmond's record of 24 hours and 18 minutes, which he made while speaking against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first major civil rights bill since Reconstruction.

Senators frequently delivered long speeches in the 19th century, the Senate Historical Office noted in a list of the longest Senate speeches dating back to 1900, but it's not possible to determine exactly how long the lasted from the existing record.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/01/booker-speech-trump-marathon/82764713007/

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. This made me smile

Link to tweet

/photo/1

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Breaking news all over

And the person TO beat ended up being that piece of shit Strom Thurmond.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. The Irony: An African-American beats a Dixiecrat.

[barbtries]

5. He's proud of that too.

he brought it up. ha

and may his filibuster work to the good the way thurmond's failed to work to the wrong.

[barbtries]

4. he's still talking.

It was so good, watched the last part, probably the last 5 or 6 hours, and it was phenomenal.

[Wiz Imp]

6. I wish the Democratic Party hadn't incorrectly called it a filibuster.

Booker s not blocking a vote on any specific legislation - the definition of a filibuster. Correctly calling it a long speech doesn't lessen the impact.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. I'm not seeing where the party is calling it that

at least in the OP article (and I'm not watching any TV so don't know if such was done there). The Senate Rules are pretty loose regarding the floor actions...

The Legislative Process on the Senate Floor: An Introduction

[Wiz Imp]

9. See the Tweet//Bluesky message included in the first response to the original post here.

It was posted by @THEDEMOCRATS and explicitly called it a filibuster.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. I don't have an Xitter account (or any of the social media accounts)

but I managed to find this one too (not sure who in their social media staff does the graphics, including for the one you are referencing, but the below seems to be correct) -

Link to tweet

Democrats
@TheDemocrats
·
Follow
It's been over 20 hours of Senator @CoryBooker holding the Senate floor and protesting the harm Donald Trump and Republicans are causing America.
3:42 PM · Apr 1, 2025

[Wiz Imp]

11. Yep, that one is good. They should stick with some variation of that message.

Unfortunately they posted the other message which called it a filibuster

[BumRushDaShow]

12. It seems to only be called that in the image graphic that went with that Xitter post

But don't know what any other follow-ups look like other than the one I managed to do a search for that popped up.

[Wiz Imp]

13. good

[SSJVegeta]

29. I dont get why it matters

It was a fillibuster in a basic dictionary definition sense (that it obstructed regular order within the confines of the rules). It was also a very long speech.

[LymphocyteLover]

8. I listened to several hours of it and he was freaking amazing. So great.

[hamsterjill]

14. I am so proud of him!

n/t

[love_katz]

15. Huge props to Cory Booker.

A record not broken since 1957!



I can't speak for anyone else, but talking for that long is too exhausting.
I hope that campaign donations pour in for him when he needs it.
He gave us a ginormous gift.

[Daleuhlmann]

16. Bravo, Senator Booker!

Here is a man with integrity, and who is showing the courage that has been recently lacking in Democratic leaders like Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin.

[Oopsie Daisy]

17. Are bathroom breaks allowed?

[Aristus]

20. No.

No bathroom breaks. You’re not allowed to eat or drink. Not allowed to sit down or even lean on anything. And you can’t stop talking.

If you do any of those things, the presiding official makes you step down.

[Oopsie Daisy]

23. Wow!

Thanks for the info.

[BumRushDaShow]

24. He could engage in a colloquy with his fellow Senators

meaning that he did "stop talking" while they were speaking as an interaction with him.

[Aristus]

25. Yes, thank you. I forgot that one.

He is allowed to yield for a question without yielding the floor.

[BumRushDaShow]

27. Senators do these all the time

but obviously not for that long!!!

I have turned on CSPAN2 many times to see the back and forth of a couple Senators pontificating on some subject.

[Otterdaemmerung]

18. He definitely kept his composure up.

I caught the last hour or so of his speech. He looked and sounded nearly as good in hour 24 as he did in hour 1. It wasn't all just worthless blabber, either. He was using all his skills as an orator, making salient points and remaining engaging.

[NNadir]

19. You know, when he defeated my former Congressperson Rush Holt for the Democrstic nomination...

...to the Senate, I was very disappointed.

I take back that feeling. He made me Jersey proud.

[BumRushDaShow]

22. When he was Newark mayor

he seemed to do a lot of "hands-on" governance (even if some of it was to raise his profile in the media ). It did give him "people" experience though.

[Paladin]

21. Always a pleasure to see a piece of racist shit like Strom Thurmond, losing.

Even after all these decades since he did us all a favor and died. Well done, Cory Booker.

[SSJVegeta]

26. FILLIBUSTER

[The Grand Illuminist]

28. A great accomplishment

But highly doubt this will do anything.